Extended FNAME performance is preserved in subjective cognitive decline but highly affected in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Abstract

Objective: The cognitive characterization of Alzheimer’s disease risk states, such as amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and subjective cognitive decline (SCD), is fundamental for timely diagnosis and interventions. The Face Name Associative Memory Exam (FNAME) is sensitive to early Alzheimer’s disease brain changes, and an extended version captures a fuller range of associative memory abilities. We aimed to assess group effects in the extended FNAME in older adults with SCD, aMCI, and older adult controls (CON). Method: Two concurrently created versions of the extended FNAME were used to test three groups of older adults (CON = 35, SCD = 37, aMCI = 31) at two sites (Mexico = 59, Netherlands = 44). Extended FNAME memory abilities were analyzed in five analyses of variance. Group and site were considered as independent variables. For the recall ability, subtest levels were entered as a within-subject variable. The remaining abilities (Face Recognition, Name Recognition, Spontaneous Name Recall, and Face–Name Matching) were analyzed in independent models. Results: In all models, the main effect for group was significant with large effect sizes, driven by a worse performance of aMCI participants. No significant differences were found between SCD and CON. The main effect for site was only significant in Face Recognition. Conclusions: The worse performance of aMCI in the extended FNAME implies an impairment in associative memory abilities beyond recall. The similar performance of CON and SCD might be explained by the recruitment of SCD participants that did not spontaneously seek help for memory decline.

Special issue on “Novel neuropsychological instruments for the prodromal and preclinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease”.

“…Somewhat different results were reported by De Simone et al (2022) in a study that investigated the diagnostic accuracy of a number of tests (including the FNAME test used by Flores-Vázquez et al, 2022) in distinguishing clinically diagnosed SCD participants from healthy controls. They found that the face-name test and a test assessing short-term pattern separation significantly discriminated between the two groups with good overall accuracy and that they were significantly associated with self-perceived memory functioning.…”

“…In agreement with the hypothesis of a particularly sensitivity of AD to tests of associative episodic memory, Flores-Vázquez et al (2022) compared clinically diagnosed MCI, SCD, and healthy participants who were recruited in two different ethnic sites (i.e., Dutch and Mexican), on culturally adapted versions of the Face-Name Associative Memory (FNAME) test. Results indicated that recall and recognition measures derived from the FNAME test were able to differentiate the MCI but not the SCD participants from healthy controls; furthermore, good agreement was found in the performance scores obtained on the Dutch and Mexican versions of the test.…”